4P Pizza, Sisowath Quay.

Last night I took some friends to 4P's. In the Phnom Penh Pizza Stakes, 4P's seemed to be the 'best bet' in a field of very dodgy horses.

Sadly, this horse fell at the first, second and third fence and had to be shot and sent to the glue factory.

The couldn't cook a basic Margherita. I ordered a Hawaiian which was even worse. The order was for 2 x Margherita and 1 x Hawaiian, made at 9.30.

First up (9:45) was ONE of the Margheritas and it was sent back in an instant. The top looked watery and uncooked and a quick finger prod confirmed the top was barely warm. One lift of a slice confirmed the pizza was about 50% undercooked. The pizza seemed to have been cooked from the bottom, but with insufficient heat to the top.

Second attempt arrived 10-15 mins later and the pizza was barely any different and this time my friend picked it up and took it the the oven chef himself. There was no sign of the second Margherita or the Hawaiian yet,(and this was about 10pm).

The Hawaiian arrived a short while later and this was the same, undercooked at the top and when I lifted a slice it sagged to the vertical and the toppings started to slide downwards. This would require and knife, fork, spoon and a straw. It was sent back. The crust looked cooked but was barely warm.

The third attempt arrived (about 10.15) along with the second Margherita on its second attempt. No sign of the Hawaiian yet. The pizza was pretty much the same as it was at the start and my friend gave up complaining and ate what he could as he was starving and so did his wife, but the middle sections were all left in a sad soggy pile on the plate.

Having seen that this was not going to get any better, I canceled the Hawaiian with the 'Leader' (there was no manager in sight - on a Saturday night at 10:15 - which was very lucky for them) and she seemed to accept that cancellation. She also admitted they were having problems with the dough, but that makes no sense, they were having big problems with their ovens being unable to cook at a high enough temperature from the top down as well as the base.

At 10:30pm they tried to redeliver the Hawaiian; 1 hour after it was ordered, 30 minutes after it was sent back and 5 minutes after my friends had finished. Clearly, the cancellation was not understood. It was shooed away. It was now beyond a joke.

The photo's make the crust look well cooked and crispy, but when you handled them they had a very soft doughy texture and when compressed returned to their original dough-like state with undercooked dough inside. The browning on the top is deceptive and may well have been created by a blow torch for an ascetic effect. It wasn't because they had been baked to almost a burning point. It's a shame because flavour-wise, they were quite nice. They were just a soggy undercooked mess.

I have to say I cannot remember a worse attempt at a pizza. Even the mobile pizza guys opposite Pontoon can make a hot crispy pizza. All I can assume is they were having serious oven problems and were trying to 'wing it' for the night. They couldn't have got a 4.8* rating with these offerings.

These pictures are of their THIRD attempt.

What did you have to pay for?

A massive frustration of mine is that most shops/restaurants do not have any senior staff with any authority to resolve customer complaints on site most of the time. Even if the food is absolute crap the junior staff will expect you to pay full price - as they have no authority to agree to anything else.

khmerhamster wrote: ↑Sun Jan 21, 2024 10:51 am What did you have to pay for?

A massive frustration of mine is that most shops/restaurants do not have any senior staff with any authority to resolve customer complaints on site most of the time. Even if the food is absolute crap the junior staff will expect you to pay full price - as they have no authority to agree to anything else.

They charged for the drinks and the 2 Margherita, but they didn't attempt to charge for the Hawaiian.

I agree with you, there are very few people in these restaurants that have the authority to waive charges but on this occasion one pizza was removed from the bill before we got it. I suspect that the greedy owners will deduct any shortfall from the staff wages if a customer refuses to pay. Of course, the owners or senior management actually being in their restaurant at 10pm on a Saturday night is probably too much like hard work.

i had a couple of weeks ago the best 4-stazione at Limocellos on 264 street !!
They used to be next to CALI-2-hotel years ago !!

Bongmab69 wrote: ↑Sun Jan 21, 2024 2:09 pm i had a couple of weeks ago the best 4-stazione at Limocellos on 264 street !!
They used to be next to CALI-2-hotel years ago !!

I remember Limoncello at Riverside circa 2017, your right the pizzas are good there and the seating is cosy on st.264. My preferred place for Italian dishes is Il Forno on st.302.

Freightdog wrote: ↑Sun Jan 21, 2024 4:50 pm I’m quite adept at upsetting folk, and have several decades practice. I upset the staff at one restaurant where they were insistent that I should pay the bill in full. I simply noted on the receipt the deductions that I was making, stuck it on their spike, and walked out.

I do the same. I suppose it's a form of tipping - negative tipping.

I don't mind leaving a tip if the food/service is much better than you would expect it to be, but the other side of the coin is that I can make a a substantial reduction if it falls short. It works both ways.

It's worth carrying a red pen to make any corrections to the bill.

The more I think about it, the more that portable one at 172/51 is looking like a top contender. Hot, crispy, cheap and available at midnight!

No VAT or service charge. No chairs either, but what the hell...